Sparse crowds and bare staging turned the January 8 celebration into a symbol of decline rather than dominance.
It is quite ironic that the ANC’ annual January 8th celebration was held in the North West, the province which gave the country one Brown Mogotsi.
Mogotsi became a known figure in SA politics following the explosive 6 July press conference held by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
The controversial North West businessman was painted as a behind-the-scenes “fixer” who had access to suspended minister of police Senzo Mchunu, highly-placed political figures like ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and alleged crime kingpin Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
When the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry was set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa to probe Mkhwanazi’s allegations of criminal and political interference in the police and judiciary, Mogotsi emerged as one who would “tell all”.
His appearance at the commission was a cringe fest that ended up with him admitting to commission head justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga he had no option but to lie under oath.
One of the main allegations put to him was that he had sourced money from Matlala for flights and accommodation to a January 8th celebration in Cape Town for eight individuals.
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While the January 8th annual celebration by the ANC has always been intended to commemorate the party’s birthday, it has, over the years that the ANC has been in power, evolved into a crass display of materialism by mostly its leadership.
None other than Mbalula used a luxury yacht to reach Robben Island during the celebration a year ago. Although the celebration itself had been riddled with alleged bad planning, including failure to book a stadium on time, some of the ANC leadership still felt entitled to show off the kind of luxurious lifestyle that being in power afforded them.
So it was no surprise that an information pedlar from the North West, Mogotsi, could hustle the likes of Matlala for hundreds of thousands of rands to spend on being part of the January 8th celebrations.
The tone to spend big or go home had been set from the leadership of the organisation over many years.
It had even become known in social circles that “slay queens” came out to play and earn big when the ANC top leadership descended on any of the chosen locations for the celebrations.
Not this year though. A combination of the usual poor planning of the event by Luthuli House saw the ANC’s and country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, addressing a lot of empty seats in scorching heat at the Moruleng stadium just outside Rustenburg.
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Gone were the bells and whistles that the country has seen in previous years.
The stage looked like it had been set up by a struggling local concert promoter on a very limited budget.
The birthday cake looked like it had been hastily put together the night before by some sympathetic baker just so something was there for the cameras.
The awkwardness of the president trying delivering a message to an organisation that used to fill a 100 000-seat FNB stadium two decades ago to a crowd that could not fill up a 20 000-seat stadium was palpable.
Instead of the opposition taking the mickey out of the ANC for the lack of huge electronic screens around the stage, the traffic jam leading to the stadium, or the crowd abandoning their seats because of the North West’s unrelenting sun, maybe the opposition should be celebrating that none, or very little, of the North West’s government money made it into the planning of the event.
Maybe, for once, the January 8th celebration did not leave the poor feeling like spectators at a rich leaders’ gathering.
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